Students attend first BWT elite rugby squad training session

A group of Year 9 students from Corby Business Academy, who successfully made it onto the newly-formed Brooke Weston Trust elite rugby squad, attended their first training session as members of the team. They will undergo coaching throughout the rest of this year to prepare them to play in the county cup and other competitions against well-established teams.

Having been selected for the team based on the skills they displayed at the U14 tournament at Franklin’s Gardens, the students had their first experience as a squad at Kettering Science Academy with a coach from the Northampton Saints. The session focused on all aspects of rugby such as handling, passing, attacking and evasion techniques. This enabled the coaches to gauge the students’ skill levels and split them into forwards and backs to complete more targeted training.

KSA’s PE teacher, Mr Feely, co-ordinated the three-hour session. He said: ‘We recently held a tournament at the Saints ground and the idea was to select a group of students from the Trust schools to make up an elite squad that will compete in higher level competitions. Hopefully starting next academic year we will be entering them into a cup competition and showing off our skills.

‘This year will give the students the opportunity to show talents in tournaments and local games to get the students to a good level of rugby as a team. It is about trying to build skill level and understanding. We have got 34 players and, as we only play 15 at a time, it gives us a large squad to pick from.

‘There is a really nice mix of students. Some have never played rugby before but the whole team are putting 100% effort in. They are all a credit and we have some real raw talent coming through, so I am looking forward to seeing how their skills and teamwork develop over the coming months.’